The Banana duct-taped to the wall.

Sometimes I grapple with how to describe our society. Then fortuitously came Comedian. What a relief! That speaks well of our current state. 

What is Comedian? It is an artwork. It is an artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. It is a no brainer artwork with allegedly lots of brain put into it. It is about an oxygenated banana taped to a plain, common wall. 

If you look at the duct-taped banana against the white wall, you should be able to catch the image of a “wrong“ sign as opposed to a correct “tick” sign. 

That is, you will see two lines that cross each other - one made by the angled duct tape and the other by the curved banana. 

But, the symbolism goes beyond that for me. It is a wrong sign, yes, but it is also a skewed one with the banana curving out. And this is what I perceive about it. 

I perceive it as the banana stubbornly resisting to be wrong. The banana does not see himself as saying and/or doing the wrong thing, even when it is as plain as the white wall against which he is duct taped to.

That’s not all. Here is another symbol I see. 

I see the duct tape as the only glue we have now to pin responsibility and accountability on the stubborn banana. It is the only custodian of our embattled conscience, and the aged sentry is working overtime to preserve the timeless values we want to pass on to our children.

Well, that is not much of a constraint set by society expecting to hold individuals to account. But that is all we have now, like it or not. It is all we have in a world broken at the core by postmodernist values. 

We have practically turned freedom upside down to serve whatever we deem is right. That is why the late Ronald Reagan was spot on when he said: -

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Alas, that’s still not all, mind you. Comedian is inspirational for me this morning. I am pregnant with semiotic offspring!

As a background, you have got to know that Comedian caused quite a stir or chaos in the gallery it was hung (@ the annual Art Basel in Miami). 

At lunchtime last Saturday, David Datuna, a little known performance artist, waltzed in, claiming to be a “hungry artist”, torn it out of the wall, and ate it. Yes, the Comedian, sold for US$120,000, became someone’s hearty digestion. 

But no panic for the rich buyer as it is not the banana duct taped to the wall that was the masterpiece, but the concept or idea of it that was for sale. So, it comes with an authentication certificate and “instructions to the owner to replace the banana every 10 days.” 

And sure enough, the gallery staff came in and replaced the oxygenated banana with a fresh one, promising to last only a few days before it goes bad again; unless of course someone comes in to munch on it before that happens. 

But that is not all...not even by a mile. Believe this, the crowd actually got out of hand, and according to the gallery security staff, they “pose a serious health and safety risk, as well as an access issue.” 

And by Sunday, the Comedian had to be taken down because one chappie, by the name of Roderick Webber, “a 46-year-old beret-wearing artist and aspiring politician, scrawled “Epstien (sic) didn’t kill himself” in red lipstick in the gallery wall where the a man had been.”” It became a wall of banana-like conspiracy theories, or fungible truths for a fungible world. 

Honestly, I have arrived at full labour delivery of symbolisms madness when it comes to the artwork that is Comedian. It is a world as chaotic as the banana of whatever truths we want to subscribe to that is duct-taped to a plain, white wall. 

Alas, we have come a long, long way from the time someone I know was nailed to two cypress wood crossing each other to a lone, fast-oxygenating banana duct taped to a wall, that was incidentally sold for US$120k with guaranteed authenticity. 

While he was nailed to the Cross, our present society saw it fit to duct tape a banana to the wall. While he represented truth that sets one free, the duct tape banana represented truth that can be bought with a price and eaten with relish. 

While he gave his life at the Cross, the duct tape banana is easily replaced every 10 days with a new banana before the banana itself expires too. 

Nothing is therefore permanent with the banana. Nothing in fact makes sense with the banana. One man’s truth is another man’s banana. 

And while he promised a life of overcoming, a life of forgiveness, a life of wholeness, a life of selfless, enduring contentment, the banana duct taped to the wall makes no such promises. It is what novelist Saul Bellow called “the moronic inferno”. And it represents our current society rather well, don’t you think?

Ps: And in this day and age, you can duct tape anything to the wall, even those you deem sacred, inviolable. Go ahead. Try it. 

Duct tape the Bible to the wall. You will never be convicted. Duct tape marriage to the wall. You will never remain faithful. Duct tape love to the wall, and once it is convenient, you bail. 

Duct tape hope and when the going gets tough, you sail. Duct tape faith or religion, and people see only the falls, perversions and stumbles, but never what Christ has promised to those who live out his truths thoroughly, consistently and faithfully. 

You can stick anything to the wall and it will not last long. Sooner or later, the duct tape will lose its hold or the object will waste away. 

I believe if you want anything to stick, anything to last and endure to the end, you turn your eyes to the one who was nailed to the Cross. His truth has endured through the ages, for He is the Rock of Ages.

Undressing Room & Naked Ladies.

It is done. Undressing Room and Naked Ladies are out. They will not be screened in next year's line up of M1 Fringe Festival.

IMDA asked for re-submission when the "performance lecture Naked Ladies by Thea Fitz-James and interactive piece Undressing Room by Ming Poon had excessive nudity. Both exceeded the M18 rating..."

The plot seems interesting enough, provocative even. Undressing Room calls for an audience member in a spontaneously interactive act to undress in private. "The idea is to relate to a stranger without the "protective skin" of clothing."

As for Naked Ladies, it is a monologue (I guess) where a lecturer shares about nudity "to address public perception of the female body." There is a part where artist Fitz-James (see below) "inserts her finger into her private parts."

Now, it is not called the Fringe Festival for nothing. It is about pushing the edge of our public perception and social/moral norms. It is about daring to go where no imagination has gone before from an artistic angle (however crass in some views) and then returning hopefully with an enlightened understanding of the forbidden fruits (taboos) of society.

The two shows have divided society between what many may call the "self-righteous" and another group where others may call the "sell righteous".

While the former needs no further explanation (that is, "a Facebook page - on Nov 22 - called Singaporeans Defending Marriage and Family compared these shows to "a solicitation for a public sex act"), the spirit of the latter (that is, "sell righteous") is surmised in the M1 organisers' own words: "IMDA's assessment of both performances was ironic as the works make deliberate attempts to distinguish nudity from sexualised connotations. They added that the works were not lewd, nor was there any artistic intent to titillate."

In fact, the M1 organisers said that the works advocated "body positive messages as well as a sense of personal candour and community trust. Ultimately, the licensing process - along with the online furore surrounding these works - deems that society at present is not ready for these - cutting edge, intelligent works."

How's that for so-called "selling righteousness" in the name of artistic expression and education? Is IMDA then being hypocritical, cutting safe (instead of "cutting edge"), and apparently unintelligent or unintelligible to the artistic community?

Lesson? Honestly, since the two shows are cut from the festival next year, we will not know how "body positive" the message will be or in what ways the show aims to "distinguish nudity from sexualized connotations." Neither will we know whether it is anything but lewd, and that it was never the shows' artistic intent to titillate.

Alas, is our society (the adult - above 18 - section, that is) not mature and ready enough for such works where nudity, and what appears to be sexualized acts, are done in a professionally artistic and "non-titillating" manner?

I guess it all depends on how a society views sex. Some society endorses polygamy as offering children of such union with more parenting options. Others see adultery as pardonable if it is done on a business holiday - just don't do it in your own backyard. In yet other society, paying for sex is deemed culturally legit.

With such liberal (relativistic) mindset, we no longer take anything that seriously when it cuts against the grain of what we think is right, endurable or workable. We don't take the marriage vows seriously if monogamy turns out to be monotony. We don't take moral values seriously if it is too restrictive or if it doesn't move with changing times. And we don't take exclusive sex in the context of a lifetime marital commitment seriously if not having sex on the second date is considered as not expressing true love to the other.

The truth is, there is a shy hypocrite in even the most conservative amongst us. But the issue is not so much that we are all hypocrite in one way or another. The real issue here is, what are we as a cultural collective moving towards?

Is there a IMDA inside us that censures us from doing some things we will not want our kids to be doing? What values do we want to pass down to our children and our children's children?

In other words, in the name of love, artistic freedom and creativity, will we smash all boundaries just so that we may enlighten or educate, or will we preserve/protect some which are worth preserving, because they are what we want our children to respect and protect?

Put it in another way, is there other more enduring and meaningful ways of teaching body positive messages (though less artistic maybe) without us being exposed to values that we do not want our kids to be influenced by, and in the end, risk ourselves from being influenced by it?

So many questions....has anyone an answer(s)? Cheerz